| If you’re thinking of flying with a firearm in the near future, I wanted to give you a heads-up…
In January, a deranged man flew from Alaska to Ft. Lauderdale, got his baggage, went into the bathroom, pulled out a checked pistol, loaded it, and started shooting defenseless people, killing 5.
It was horrible.
Delta had a choice to make. They could make changes that would actually help people be safer, or they could engage in security theater that only harasses their law abiding customers who travel with firearms.
They chose to harass their customers.
I first ran into this a few months ago…and ran into it again this weekend.
Now, when you get to your final destination, if you’re trying to be low profile and carry a locked, hard sided gun case inside of ordinary luggage, Delta wants the world to know about it.
First off, they aren’t putting luggage with firearms in them on the normal carousel anymore. You either have to claim your firearm from the Delta luggage desk or get it at over sized baggage.
Second, they’re putting a BIG sticker on luggage with firearms in them saying not to put it on the carousel. No other luggage I’ve seen has this sticker…so every baggage handler, flyer, cab driver, bus driver, etc. knows that you have a firearm in your bag.
That’s not so bad…you can rip off the sticker pretty quickly.
But they went one step further. They are zip-tieing the bags shut with heavy duty 3/8″ zip ties. On a recent flight, my bag came out with 4 BIG zip ties on it.
Think about that…if you’re flying, you can’t have sharp objects. They zip-tie bags shut so you can’t get into them. This still leaves you with a few options…acquiring a blade, cutting it with 550 cord, melting it with a lighter, or shimming the locking mechanism being the easiest.
So, if you’re planning on flying with a pistol on Delta in the near future, make sure you have a plan before you go. |
